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Saw 3D (2010)

Director: Kevin Greutert

Time Out rating

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6 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out London

Watching the seventh and (allegedly) final instalment in the long-since enervated ‘Saw’ series is like pulling your own teeth out, while watching yourself on a giant 3D screen and being force-fed deafening, discordant music.

A series of self-help groups filled with Jigsaw survivors has coalesced around Bobby Dagen, a publicity-hungry author whose book detailing his own ordeal at the hands of the cruel puppet-master is a best-seller. But the inheritor of Jigsaw’s mantle, corrupt detective Mark Hoffman (Costas Mandylor), knows Bobby’s secret – a secret he has kept even from his beloved wife Joyce (Gina Holden). Bobby never was a victim; but now he is about to become one. The trap has been set, and he joins the other disposable victims in trying to escape from the intricately designed engines of pain that are designed to give them a new perspective on life. Meanwhile, Internal Affairs investigator Gibson (Chad Donella) and his team are closing in on Hoffman, who’s been shopped by Jigsaw’s long-suffering widow, Jill (Betsy Russell).

The plotting and characterisation are thin, the set-piece torture scenes are elaborately dull, and the 3D images add nothing but another level of fuzziness. For completist fans, the one reason to see the series through to its conclusion is an answer to the question: What happened to Dr. Gordon (Carey Elwes), who we last saw crawling away at the end of the first film, his leg sawn off above the ankle? Other than that, there’s nothing that’s new, and there’s far too much that’s old and past its smell-by date. Indeed, a nasty whiff of desperation hangs over the whole enterprise, which started out as a clever puzzle-piece thriller but quickly descended into boring, sadistic horror for its own sake.

Author: Nigel Floyd

Time Out London Issue 2097: October 28 – November 3, 2010

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User reviews of this film

Ben said...

Posted on Nov 05 2010 18:51 this film was a massive disappointment i loved the other films and this one was just pointless. the graphics was terrible and the 3-D was totally useless might aswell been shot in 2-d as the film had hardly any 3-d parts where the screen jumped out at you. i felt this was totally pointless and have ruined the saw series for me.

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Bazzer said...

Posted on Nov 05 2010 12:20 Can't believe the negative comments about the film. It had eveything the previous six had plus the 3D. Really enjoyed it.

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Tom said...

Posted on Nov 02 2010 17:41 The review is spot on. Saw 3-D is a constant disappointment both in the story and the set-pieces, even a cameo from Chester Bennington (from Linkin Park) couldn't add the necessary dimensions to this suspiciously flat 3-D film. Nothing in comparison to the earlier instalments.

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scrumpyjack said...

Posted on Nov 01 2010 19:22 The 3D is almost non existent, the film is a bit better than VI. Quite enough now, thanks. watchable & forgetable 4/10

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Southendlout said...

Posted on Nov 01 2010 01:14 Over hyped, over done and not over soon enough. I was really looking forward to this but wish I had not bothered!

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Adeel said...

Posted on Oct 29 2010 00:30 Just seen the advance screenings. Its good for gore freaks. Burning people alive on 3d isnt nice to watch

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